Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Kicking the habit

My husband, Devin, is fantastic. He's smart, funny, kind, and totally hot. ;) He's a patient, loving father and a considerate, loving husband. There is almost nothing I would change about him - and I'm putting this in writing even knowing that he'll probably use this statement against me sometime in the future. However, he has one bad habit that drives me bonkers. I've tried everything to get him to quit - nagging, guilt, lectures, bribing (hey, it works for the boys), and threats (teasing that when he goes on oxygen, I'm taking half and leaving), but nothing worked.

...Well, make that - he HAD one bad habit. He quit smoking two weeks ago today. He had been scaling back but finally went cold turkey. I know you don't get to be an ex-smoker until a year after you've quit, but I'm pretty confident he'll be able to stick the landing. I am so excited about this. On the plus side, I can kiss him before mouthwash, there's a better chance he'll outlive me (and yes, that's a big one for me), the boys won't pick up the habit from his example, his clothes don't smell like a bar anymore, etc.

On the negative side, I no longer have any leverage - hey, the value of leverage should never be underestimated in a marriage - in spite of the fact that the current financial crisis has almost made it a dirty word. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe that's the REAL reason he quit - to take away my leverage. And yes, it IS all about me. Here's what I mean about leverage: When talking about my bad habits, I can no longer blithely take the moral high ground because smoking trumps everything else. Or when we go over the budget and he's teased out all my quilting expenditures (admittedly a shocking total), I don't get to ask where the line item for his cigarettes is. However, in spite of my regrettable loss of leverage, I think we've all come out way ahead on this one. WAAHHOOOO!!